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I drove my car 2 blocks, parked it, then got out popped the hood and smoke was coming from the valve cover and that area. Smoke was coming out mostly from the back of the engine. I also smelled a strong burning oil/fire smell.. I then heard a crackle from the engine in the same area and a lot of heat was coming from it.. This got my really worried! I originally thought it was my valve cover gasket but this problem seems way worse.. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and the smoke is going away but still a little there. Any ideas what could be wrong?! I included some pics of where the smoke was coming from.. My car has 133k miles. I just did an oil change less then 500 miles ago and I checked my dipstick.. I have enough oil!

Symptoms point to a VCG leak, but the crackle and Coolant light being ON would worry me.
Check if you have enough coolant in the tank.
Get cracking with checking for coolant leaks.
Check for oil in coolant and coolant in oil.
Hopefully it was just an air pocket or a small leak.

I get the oil light ON all the time after I drive about 10 miles, not because I am running low on oil, but because of faulty CCV. Also have a small leak on VCG.

I got those smells when vcg was leaking a lot. Could get that if vcg is done improperly too. Do vcg, as for the coolant not sure. Small leak somewhere or air pocket. Look under your expansion tank for leaks, that's where mine leaked. Auto trans thermostat was cracked from age.

Yes, I do think it is 100% your valve cover gasket but I would be concerned over the coolant level being low. The crackling is normal, it is often the heat shields or cats cooling off. However, the crackling may also be due to drops of oil hitting the very hot heat shields, thus lots of smoke. Personally cooling system (i.e. finding out where your coolant went) would be priority rather than the smoke.

Yes, I do think it is 100% your valve cover gasket but I would be concerned over the coolant level being low. The crackling is normal, it is often the heat shields or cats cooling off. However, the crackling may also be due to drops of oil hitting the very hot heat shields, thus lots of smoke. Personally cooling system (i.e. finding out where your coolant went) would be priority rather than the smoke.

I will definitely be doing my VCG. The thing about the coolant light is it comes on randomly and goes off at different times. I have full coolant too. I checked it and topped it off a few weeks ago.. There doesn't seem to be a coolant problem and my engine temp gauge never shows it getting too hot.. What I'm thinking is the coolant light has to do with my heating system because I'm getting heat randomly. It doesn't come on all the time. I'm also not throwing any coded web I plug in my obd2 scanner.. I'm gonna start with my VCG then while it's in the shop ill check out the cooling system as well

Sounds like your system isn't bled correctly and there's air in there. If I'm remembering correctly the coolant level sensor is actually partitioned off in the expansion tank and can be subject to air bubbles making it think its low.
That would also explain your intermittent heat situation.
When's the last time your coolant was changed? Maybe a flush and fill would do you good. The key ingredient in these cars is bleeding it correctly though.
I think it's your vcg too. It's somewhat common for bmws to leak oil out onto the headers and it leaves no trace because it burns off.
An oil leak won't cause a smell. Burning oil will. I think that's what you're getting.

Sounds like your system isn't bled correctly and there's air in there. If I'm remembering correctly the coolant level sensor is actually partitioned off in the expansion tank and can be subject to air bubbles making it think its low.
That would also explain your intermittent heat situation.
When's the last time your coolant was changed? Maybe a flush and fill would do you good. The key ingredient in these cars is bleeding it correctly though.
I think it's your vcg too. It's somewhat common for bmws to leak oil out onto the headers and it leaves no trace because it burns off.
An oil leak won't cause a smell. Burning oil will. I think that's what you're getting.

I bought the car about 4 months ago and they said they changed all the fluids.. Not sure if that includes coolant or if they did it correctly.. Ill bleed the system and do VCG. Hopefully that will help.

This is from left-field .... See if you can look down under/around the exhaust manifold and header pipes and spot anything that looks like an artifact of burnt plastic. Check the areas on/around the firewall for missing or cracked plastic parts. These cars are getting older and the splashguard (firewall) black plastic cowling can age, crack, fall off, and melt on the exhaust .....

This is from left-field .... See if you can look down under/around the exhaust manifold and header pipes and spot anything that looks like an artifact of burnt plastic. Check the areas on/around the firewall for missing or cracked plastic parts. These cars are getting older and the splashguard (firewall) black plastic cowling can age, crack, fall off, and melt on the exhaust .....

When installing angel eyes I accidentally cracked one of the clips for my corner lights and it fell to the bottom of the engine but I didn't think this could burn..